#fgj19during

BY MARIE-CLAUDE GRÉGOIRE (FGJ ‘19) - Family physicians from across Canada are urging their college to make “family medicine” a protected term. Concerned that non-physicians may be misleading the public about their qualifications, one group has collected close to 500 signatures in a petition to the president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). READ MORE

BY MATT STRAUSS (FGJ ‘19) - While Ontario doctors have denounced a government proposal to limit funding for psychotherapy, some physicians say they would welcome cuts that “curb boutique psychiatrists” who “over-treat the worried well.” READ MORE

BY SWATHI MEENAKSHI SADAGOPAN (FGJ ‘19) AND LINDSEY VODAREK (FGJ ‘19) -  Toronto’s housing crisis is being fuelled by the emergence of “ghost hotels” — profitable, short-term rentals posted on websites like Airbnb that are replacing long-term rental housing — a Toronto Star/Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy investigation has found. READ MORE

SARAH SCHULMAN (FGJ ‘19) - It’s 9 p.m., and Ijeoma Ross and Mark Daprato are getting their 20-year-old son, Deane, ready for bed at their home in Toronto. They listen to Deane’s favourite drumbeats, then fill his feeding tube with water and three medications and add drops to his eyes and ears. In less than 12 hours — after having suctioned the saliva that’s collected in Deane's throat overnight — they’ll start their morning routine: wake Deane up, brush his teeth, comb his hair, put ointment in his eyes, and get him on the school bus. READ MORE

SARAH SCHULMAN (FGJ ‘19) - Teresa Strong remembers sitting in her jail cell in the middle of a five-year sentence for robbery when, on a whim, she asked to make a call—to a police officer. Thirteen years earlier, when Strong was on the streets and tied up in gangs and the sex trade, an officer named Dan Jones had stopped to hear her story. READ MORE

INTERVIEW WITH INDERVEER MAHAL (FGJ ‘19) - Dr. Inderveer Mahal - Family Physician and Global Journalism Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto discusses the new truth about Aspirin, and your doctor’s slow uptake of medical evidence on 1310 News Ottawa - The Rick Gibbons Show. LISTEN HERE

BY CHRISTINE BEAR (FGJ ‘19), ANNE BASSETT, STEPHEN W. SCHERER - New studies reveal that most psychiatric illnesses are related to one another. Tracing these connections, like the mapping of a river system, promises to help define the main cause of these disorders and the drugs that could alleviate their symptoms. READ MORE

BY INDERVEER MAHAL (FGJ ‘19) - For decades, millions of patients have been taking a daily Aspirin in an attempt to prevent hearts attacks and strokes. But in March 2019, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association released guidelines declaring healthy adults with an average risk for heart disease receive no overall benefit from a daily Aspirin. READ MORE